Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $243.00 to $230.00. The stock had previously closed at $244.64, but opened at $201.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Duolingo shares last traded at $196.18, with a volume of 671,601 shares traded.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on DUOL. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Duolingo from $217.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Duolingo from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Duolingo from $230.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Duolingo in a report on Monday, March 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $270.00 target price for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Duolingo in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $246.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Natalie Glance sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.82, for a total value of $371,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 123,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,483,099.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Duolingo news, CEO Ahn Luis Von sold 13,600 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.34, for a total transaction of $2,833,424.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Natalie Glance sold 1,500 shares of Duolingo stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.82, for a total transaction of $371,730.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,005 shares in the company, valued at $30,483,099.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 123,223 shares of company stock valued at $26,893,230. Insiders own 19.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Duolingo

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Duolingo by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 8,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duolingo by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Discovery Value Fund acquired a new stake in Duolingo in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.59% of the company’s stock.

Duolingo Stock Down 18.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 589.96 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $221.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 3.24.

Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $167.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.60 million. Duolingo had a net margin of 3.03% and a return on equity of 2.64%. Duolingo’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.06) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Duolingo, Inc. will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duolingo Company Profile

Duolingo, Inc operates as a mobile learning platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers courses in 40 different languages, including Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese through its Duolingo app. It also provides a digital English language proficiency assessment exam.